


Does "fanfic" mean "other people's characters?"

by Elf (Elfwreck)



Series: OC Meta Thoughts [1]
Category: No Fandom
Genre: Fanfiction, Gaming, Gen, Meta, Nonfiction, fanworks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-18
Updated: 2011-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:08:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23159065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elfwreck/pseuds/Elf
Summary: I've been thinking, recently, about the definitions of "fanfic" and "fanworks," and pondering how the AO3 isn't set up to support filk. And the followup thought is how the AO3 is really, intensely, completely not set up to support gamer fanworks.
Series: OC Meta Thoughts [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1664782
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4
Collections: March Meta Matters Challenge





	Does "fanfic" mean "other people's characters?"

I've been thinking, recently, about the definitions of "fanfic" and "fanworks" (and transformative and derivative and all those copyright issues, but I'm always thinking about those), and pondering how the AO3 isn't set up to support filk. And the followup thought is how the AO3 is really, intensely, completely not set up to support gamer fanworks.* (I speak of tabletop RPG and maybe wargamer stuff; I can't speak for how well it does or doesn't support video gaming fanworks.)

And I got to thinking about "fanfic." And gamerfic. And where the two meet, and where they maybe don't.

If I write the story of [Lolth](http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4ex/20100607) conspiring with [Vecna](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vecna) to destroy the surface lands of Greyhawk, that'd obviously be D&D fanfic. If I wrote the story of nine intrepid adventurers, armed with ~~a gold ring and a legendary sword~~ some magical gadgets that were lying around the kingdom, marching into the Underdark to stop them ... would that still be fanfic? Or would that be "a writeup of my GM's alternate twist on the [Demonweb Pits](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_of_the_Demonweb_Pits) Module Q1?"

Is a writeup of a D&D game "fanfic?" Does it have to focus on the canonical characters & settings to be fanfic, or is the fact that it's set in a canonical world enough?  The more I poke around fanfic things, the more it seems that "fanfic" often means "someone else's characters." Not someone else's settings; not fic inspired by a canonical source; not retelling someone else's stories. Those are acknowledged as fanfic (and Yuletide gets lots of them), but they get the sideways look, the double-take followed by, "oh yeah ... I guess that can be fanfic too."

RPF gets tagged as fanfic because we don't make up the characters. WWII story with Hitler/Churchill? Fanfic. WWII story with random original soldiers? Origific. Grabbing the WWII setting doesn't make it fanfic.

Does that mean grabbing the D&D setting isn't enough to make something fanfic? If I put it in Greyhawk, populate the world with D&D orcs and elves, have the drow at war with the deep gnomes (yes, I know, "svirfneblin;" I sometimes think I learned to pronounce _cthulhu fhtagn_ as a side-effect of playing too much D&D), and a band of characters consisting of a mage, three warriors and a sneaky-guy, who are out to rescue the princess from the spider-priests ... is that fanfic?

It's a fanwork, no question. Plenty of gamer-stuff is fanworks: original adventures in canonical settings, new character types, entire gameworlds with D&D or GURPS or Talislanta stats. But is it "fanfic" just because it's made by fans (of D&D, presumably) and it's fiction? If not, what would it take to make it fanfic? A conversation with Lolth? Humorous rescue by [Phil & Dixie](http://www.airshipentertainment.com/growf.html)?

... Does it have to be of a specific character to be "fanart," or are all drawings of Drow "fanart?"

These are more ponderings than real questions. They're not quite rhetorical, but I'm not expecting answers, either. I'm considering the line between "original" and "transformative," and damn does it get blurry in spots.

*Eventually, I will write a detailed post about how the AO3 could support gamer fanworks. I'm not worried about it, because (1) I trust AO3 staff to care about these things, when they have time & resources, and (2) supporting gamer works is a *lot* more complex than supporting filk or fanfic. So no hurry on that.  


**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted at <http://elf.dreamwidth.org/418207.html>, where there are comments.


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